Monday, June 20, 2016

It’s officially summer and we all love to read a good book. Make
sure to pick up a few examples for your young ones as well! I have completed a
list of my favorite books ages 6 to 8. Bring the kinds to the library and let
them grab some great books to explore during summer. Feel free to share your
favorites and recommendations!

·The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton

A lovely magic story about Joe, Beth and
Frannie moving into a new home and discovering the Enchanted Wood right on the
door step. It is a vivid story of unusual friendships and exciting adventures.
Meet the Saucepan Man and the Land of Treats and the Land of Do-As-You-Please.

·Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson

This is one of my personal favorite stories
since childhood. Meet Moomin the cheerful and chubby troll that live in the
magical Moominvalley with his parents and all of their friends. Before
hibernation at winter the family fill their tummies with pine needles to be
ready to wake up in spring ready for an adventurous summer.

The story is beautifully written filled
with remarkable adventures. It’s a book for both children and adults to enjoy
together.

·The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy

Poor little accident-prone Mildred is a
witch attending Miss Crackle´s Academy. All things possible goes wrong: her
broomstick crashes, her spells go wrong and she accidentally turn the teacher’s
pet into a pig! Miss Hardbroom her strict and stiff teacher is not at all
impressed but a twist will turn it all around as Mildred turns into the
heroine. A heartwarming story that will intrigue the young readers.

·Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren

I am sure we all are quite familiar with
Pippi and her amusing escapes. Let the children join in on amazing adventures
in Pippi´s Ville Villekulla along with her horse, monkey, her suitcase full of
gold and best friends Tommy and Annika. Dive into a world of birthday
celebrations, joining the circus, lifting horses and dancing with burglars.

·Horrid Henry by Francesca Simon

The popular Horrid Henry series presents us
to naughty Henry and his brother, Perfect Peter. A brilliant way for children
to discover the brother’s differences and compare their own behavior to the
characters. Prepare for lots of laughter and great fun.

·The Arrival by Shaun Tan

This is a rather unusual story about a man
who packs his bags and leaves his family to move to a new country. It is a
profound story allowing the readers to experience this young man’s struggles.
It´s a story of immigration following a journey of obstacles concerning communication,
work, accommodation and culture. With a happy ending as the family joins the
young man in the new country and a prosperous future ahead this is an important
story to share with our young ones. It´s
a gripping story for big and small which allows for discussion about
immigration, loneliness and related topics.

·Charlotte´s Web by E B White

This is a witty story about a little girl
named Fern. Together with a very friendly talking spider called Charlotte, Fern
saves her pig Wilbur from the usual fate of fat little pigs. This is a modern
classic which introduces the topic of mortality.

·Mister Magnolia by Quentin Blake

Mr. Magnolia has many things, such as an
old trumpet that goes rooty-toot, some very fat owls leaning to hoot, a big
purple dinosaur who´s magnificent brute, two sisters who play the flute, and even
a swimming pool. But, he still only has one boot. Then one day a mysterious
parcel arrives…

A delightful story of whimsical nonsense rhyme
in a picture book format. It is a book filled with energy and humor of verse
which is good fun to read out loud together while looking and admiring the
colorful illustrations.

·Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Ingalls family lives in a small house
in the big woods with their wild animals. There are bears, bees, deer and
wolves. It is a beautiful story based on Laura Ingalls’s early childhood
memories from life in America in the late 19th century.

Do you have a hard time concentrating while studying? A
great way to learn better is to combine studying with something fun. So if you
already spent a decent amount of time on your geography studies I recommend you
to top up your knowledge with this fun online game. Geoguessr!

GeoGuessr is a web-based geographic discovery game based on
Google Street View. You are basically dropped on a street somewhere in the
world and by clicking, walking around, zooming in and out and paying attention
you have to guess where in the world you are. There are various clues so pay
attention. Some hints could be what side of the road the cars drive on, language
on road signs and the landscape. Remember that you have to drop your pin on the
little map on the bottom left before time runs out to make your guess. The game
is really neat and you can either play alone or challenge mode with your
friends.

How to write a book report or a book review

Writing a book report is a common assignment in school. It
gives you the chance to read a new book and share the experience with your
teacher and classmates.

What is the difference between a book report and a book
review? A book report is more descriptive, the idea is for you to demonstrate
that you have read and understood the book. You have to describe the plot (the
story of the book), the characters (the persons appearing in the book) and the
genre (the theme of the book).

A book review is more
about your thoughts about the book. It is important to argue why or why not you
would recommend someone else to read the book or specific segments or writing
styles that you enjoyed or didn’t enjoy in the book.

How to write a book report step by step

There are many ways to write a book review and your teacher
has probably provided you with some guidelines. Make sure you read through them
and follow them.

Here is an example of how to write your book report if you haven’t
got any guidelines:

1.First of all, you have to write the title of the
book underlined at the top of the page together with the name of the
author. Ex. Tangerine by Edward Bloor.

2.Second you have to describe the book details.
Start off with the author and the name of the book again and mention briefly
what the book is about. You can also mention why you picked this book and
something you liked about it. Ex. Tangerine is a book of Edward Bloor about a
boy who wants to become a soccer player. I chose this book because I love to
play soccer. I liked to read it as it was very exciting with many mysteries.

3.Now it is time to describe the setting. This
means that you should explain where the story took place. Was it in space? In a
school? Or maybe on a pirate ship? Make sure you describe the setting well with
many details. Ex. Paul Fisher moves to Tangerine County in Florida with his
family. It is a very mysterious place where weird things happen. There is a
fire burning under the city every day and another strange thing is that lightning
strikes every day at the exact same time. Paul’s new school…

4.You also have to describe the characters of the
book. This basically means that you have to make a description about the main
persons in the book. Who was the story about? Was there one main character or
more? Describe the persons as well as you can. What was their name, age, what
did they look like? Was it an evil or nice person? Ex. The main character of
Tangerine is called Paul Fisher. He is in middle-school and he loves soccer. He
has a problem with his eyes so he has to wear big thick glasses which makes him
look like a bug-eye alien. But he is not really blind, he can see things that
other people can’t see.

5.The story, it’s time for you to describe the
story of the book. What happens? Is there a mystery or a problem? You should
describe three different parts of the book. First what happens in the beginning
of the book, then what happens in the middle of the book and finally what
happens in the end of the book. Ex. Paul moves to Tangerine County with his
family where strange things are happening. He has a very hard time to fit into
school especially since his older brother is harassing him all the time. Paul
notices that there are a lot of strange things going on in Tangerine like the
sinkhole that swallows the hole school. But when Paul joins the soccer team he
realizes that in Tangerine anything is possible…

6.In the last part of the book review it is now
time for you to explain your thoughts about the book. Did you like the book? If
yes, why? And if no, why not? Would you recommend your friends to read this
book? Also mention how the book made you feel, maybe sad, happy or excited.

7.When you have finished your book report read it
through so you haven’t missed out on any important details or spelling. It is
always a good idea to ask an adult to read it through before you hand it in to your
teacher.